Honestly,...

...and I am indeed sorry to say, the devs suck. Really. Not from a human point of view, but from a professional point of view - I am a senior software developer myself.

Why such a harsh criticism? Well, for reasons.

First, there are bugs in the game that has been long reported, but did not get fixed.
Next, this current ANB event. What a mess!
Then, the ever-recurring cheaters. Seriously, how can it be that there is really no check for stats that are waaaayyyyyyyy out of the ordinary? Is it really that complicated to impose restrictions and program a f*ing if-clause?

Devs, get your sh*t together! Really!
- Use automated testing to prevent "happenings" like this ANB!
- Make beta releases first and goddamn TEST THEM before you release sh*t!

Screenshot was taken from the current ANB BH leaderboard.

And: I will SURELY don't spend any more money on this game until at least something turns for the better.

....aaaand from the seasonal BH leaderboard. Well, lately it seems to me as if I could simply just setup a cron job that takes a screenshot off of the leaderboard every 12 hours. I guess the rate in which I would capture cheaters would significantly be greater than 50%.

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Devs suck
The game is full of bugs
The current ANB is worst ever event.

BUT

We still love the game

The dev team is really small. You can count them on your fingers. Their current and biggest problem is to port the game to Unreal engine as the current engine is dieded a while ago. Even after port, we do not expect it to be perfect but there should be improvements. Being playable offline, hackers cannot be avoided. I agree that they need better testing a dedicated beta testing team.

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Before you start throwing too much out there, we have no idea how much gems they may have spent on crafting resources and gold and, while the percentages aren't in their favor from what Martin and others have experienced, they could have crafted everything shown if they did not care what the results cost them.

Is situations like this we, as players, can only observe and scratch our heads and wonder. The developers are able to know whether or not they acquired 170,000 gems to craft to their hearts content. The extra zeroes are not in there by accident. The number is, however, completely fictitious.

I am sure results like that will get scrutiny by the developers before given the event rewards.

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I've dealt with this accusation of "devs suck" in another thread. Tired of it then and even more tired that you couldn't find that thread and comment there. You literally have no idea what the problem is. Easy to point fingers at unknown, unseen minions of Dream Primer when the problem may be elsewhere, in someone else's code, e.g. Or, the mgt. team may have decided to send you all on an August vacation, like it or not. We just don't know. Or Making Fun may have pushed the ANB ahead of bugfix. You are unhappy and we get that but you can't know where/what the problems are.

Rather than ***** about bugs in general, go to the bug thread and list the bugs as when YOU get a bug report and are told to fix it. List your platform, the conditions, its reproducibility, its seriousness (no cheating), and pictures if you got them. With respect to Yttrill in that other thread: it's a complex system and there will always be bugs and there will always be limited resources to fix them. Please be part of the solution.

FEYI FAJU BESE 4881

Enthusiastic but inept player. Computer programmer and world traveler.

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Before you start throwing too much out there, we have no idea how much gems they may have spent on crafting resources and gold and, while the percentages aren't in their favor from what Martin and others have experienced, they could have crafted everything shown if they did not care what the results cost them.

Is situations like this we, as players, can only observe and scratch our heads and wonder. The developers are able to know whether or not they acquired 170,000 gems to craft to their hearts content. The extra zeroes are not in there by accident. The number is, however, completely fictitious.

I am sure results like that will get scrutiny by the developers before given the event rewards.

170,000 would be 1000 dollars and that would get you 68 master crafter boxes. That could be enough to craft to craft all lvl 74s but then you need to think about the gold. At 50 gems per 25000 gold you would need another 40,000 gems for just 20m gold which imo isn't even close to enough to craft all of those. So we're looking at something in the range of 1500 to 2000 dollars maybe more. I think it's safe to say these guys are cheaters

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170,000 would be 1000 dollars and that would get you 68 master crafter boxes. That could be enough to craft to craft all lvl 74s but then you need to think about the gold. At 50 gems per 25000 gold you would need another 40,000 gems for just 20m gold which imo isn't even close to enough to craft all of those. So we're looking at something in the range of 1500 to 2000 dollars maybe more. I think it's safe to say these guys are cheaters

It really isn't safe to assume that they are cheaters. There are some people out there that are capable and willing to drop that kind of real resources to pump up their ego. We, as players, have no way of knowing for sure. Just because you and others wouldn't doesn't mean there are those that would. Some people would say that no one would spend $99.99 on 17,000 gems but there are those that do.

Rather than stirring an already overheating pot I prefer to use the term suspicious and let the developers sort it out. I do not have any problem with people posting their concerns and showing screenshots of the characters causing suspicion. I just prefer that the cheater word not be used unless you know for sure or it is truly blatant like level 999 equipment.

I try to work from the perspective innocent until proven guilty and also giving the benefit of the doubt. I have encountered way too many unlikely situations in my life that most would typically say is impossible naturally.

Just my way of trying to keep some calm. Every one is allowed to do what they feel is best.

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It really isn't safe to assume that they are cheaters. There are some people out there that are capable and willing to drop that kind of real resources to pump up their ego. We, as players, have no way of knowing for sure. Just because you and others wouldn't doesn't mean there are those that would. Some people would say that no one would spend $99.99 on 17,000 gems but there are those that do.

Rather than stirring an already overheating pot I prefer to use the term suspicious and let the developers sort it out. I do not have any problem with people posting their concerns and showing screenshots of the characters causing suspicion. I just prefer that the cheater word not be used unless you know for sure or it is truly blatant like level 999 equipment.

I try to work from the perspective innocent until proven guilty and also giving the benefit of the doubt. I have encountered way too many unlikely situations in my life that most would typically say is impossible naturally.

Just my way of trying to keep some calm. Every one is allowed to do what they feel is best.

I watch a lot of sports and have come to know that where there is smoke there is usually fire. It's possible that multiple people dropped 2,000+ on a free to play mobile game but I wouldn't bet on it. I hear you though, innocent until proven guilty is the way it should be though. I think it would be a good idea to have some sort of leaderboard of shame where we could see all of those that have been banned and be able to compare them.

You've given me a thread idea to ask the community how much money they've spent on the game.

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Since playing this game is really my only vice, I could easily spend $1000 for an ANB event, if I chose to do so. But, I truly do not care where I sit on the leader boards or whether I get medals.

I do, however, clearly understand, that some folks are driven by such status symbols and will go to extremes to achieve them. It is also possible that displaying these symbols and seeing the negative comments shared, provide them an added level of satisfaction.

—-

For my answer to the expenditure thread, my only purchase has been the Season Pass.

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You literally have no idea what the problem is. [...] ...the problem may be elsewhere, in someone else's code, e.g.

As I wrote, I am a senior software developer myself for like 20 years now (yes, I am that old. I turned 44 this year). I regularly work with other peoples libraries. Yes, they do have errors - but *I* am responsible for the software *I* write, so if an implemented library does have flaws that impact MY application, I have to make damn sure, that I find a way to deal with these flaws before releasing my app. This counts double and triple for software where people spend damn money on it. Similar rules apply for the PMs - they have to make sure that the app has all the resources needed for development.

So I DO have a f*ing clue on what I am talking about. And I don't give a damn if DP/MF has maybe a different point of view on these topics - I simply don't have to, because it's my f*ing money that went to them.

I am tired of people finding excuses for nearly everything. And I am more tired of people that even care to write them down multiple times.

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I agree that it is not *safe*. But I guess we could agree on that it's likely, can we?

Why? Well, as Wagstaffer pointed out it's either dropping a TON of money on the game or having used all your gathered resources from the last years of playing (wait. The crafting system isn't that old!) on a bronze ANB event, where you have plenty of play time at hand. I could maybe have some less doubts if it where for a gold ANB, were time is much more crucial. But bronze? Come on.

Also, it's IMHO unlikely that so many people have plenty of 74s and 75s at hand. Not just 2 or 3 items. All items.

As Wagstaffer said, in many years I also got to the point were I suspect fire when there's smoke.

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There is no reason to doubt that these gears were cheated, as one of them has already confessed to use crafting exploits, while he got the exploit description by the Koreans, which have been proven to have cheated before. Obebi, Dasomi, WIlly got banned. Of course they might have been very dedicated, or big spenders. but they cheated and everyone that is like 10 times better than the best legit players out there isnt just spending enormous amounts of money. They just cheat. Has been the case for the past 7 anbs that I participated in. Why would it be different now? Its always cheaters and botters. You can be sure, that if devs checked these accounts, there is no purchase of a significant amount of gems which would come close to be enough to craft these gears. If you need on average 170000 gems spent, but the account spent 5000 gems, what is more likely? cheating or exploiting? what if the account spent 170000 gems, but no purchase has been made, what is more likely? hacking/botting or dedicated ad watching for two years to spend on a bronze event? sure there is the possibility that someone played the game for 20h a day for 2 years. but what is more likely? botting or dedication? there is no reason to not use your brain and just expect everything is fine when it cleqrly is not. it's cheaters, cheaters, cheaters in every possible way.

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No where did I ever express an expectation that everything is fine nor did I ever suggest putting our collective heads in the sand and ignore what is going on.

All I said is that, we, as players can not see the entire and therefor can not definitely, without a doubt label a particular player a cheater except for completely blatant times like level 999 equipment. I remember when I first saw a character with 2,147,483,647 damage. My first thought was not cheater but bug. That was before I spent much time in the Forum and before those type of characters started popping up regularly. That kind of damage just like level 999 gear is blatant cheating and call a spade a spade.

All I am saying is that in the case of full level 75 set gear or other things like that have a possibility, however remote, of being legitimate. We, as players, have no way of validating whether or not the account involved has the legitimate, traceable resources that could account for acquiring the gear legitimately during ANB events. No where did I say to just react with a "Hmm, they dump a ton into this." or "Wow! They are a lucky bastard!" but rather just suggested a tempered approach unless there is definitive evidence of cheating that the players can see. The only real thing I said was that saying someone is a cheater should only occur when the person saying so has incontrovertible proof to support that claim. Without incontrovertible proof I just encouraged everyone to recognize that there are other possible explanations and label such occurrences as suspicious and assist the developers by flagging the players so that the those that have the necessary information, the developers, can investigate and take the appropriate action.

Aside from the blatant and self-incontrovertible proof issues like level 999 gear I would even agree that a person that has knowledge that a player is involved in providing forums or spreading methods against game rules has a legitimate right to use the cheater label on the player even if the person has no incontrovertible proof that the player directly used those methods personally. Even a person having witnessed a posting or video or other evidence of the like where a player admits to using methods outside the rules is justified in publicly naming a player as a cheater. I am not even suggesting that we not allow open discussions about who a player could do what they did and openly admit that we don't see how they did it as a way to open an avenue for a player to provide a reasonable explanation as well a way for the developers to be aware of situations that the game players would likely catch first due to our numbers if nothing else.

I would, personally, be willing to have to put up with dozens, if not hundreds, of false negatives when it comes to suspicious circumstances rather than having to see a single false positive case of cheating. Maybe a cheater lingers a bit longer because wheels take a little time to vet claims and ensure someone is actually cheating. I would rather let a cheater linger a little longer than have a player, that is genuinely supportive of the game, publicly accused of cheating and branding that person a cheater. False positive claims are not genies that you can put back in the bottle and cause otherwise well meaning people to be hurt.

Be vigilant. If something doesn't smell right, raise the issue for the community and the developers to be aware and have healthy discourse. I, like anyone else that bothers to discuss this issue, care about how this game is run and how it is doing. If one didn't care then they would just delete the app and move along silently because they just don't care. Even the well publicized act of a veteran on their way out shows that, even though leaving, the veteran still cared because the exit was more than likely a way of venting the frustration of where things are at and the sense of loss for what had been contributed. Discussion demonstrates caring.

I have a lot of respect for the work you put into a prior post in order to bring to the collective conscience things that were going on that not everyone was aware. I mean no disrespect but your remark of "There is no reason to doubt that these gears were cheated" is the kind of thing I am talking about. I and others have come up with reasonable reasons to doubt cheating in the absence of hard evidence. I quote you not to single you out specifically but as an example of the kinds of accusations that we do not have the evidence to make. I appreciate what you contribute to the community.

To the community, I just think that too much harm can be had with blatantly saying "He cheats!" or "All left-handers cheat!" unless you have the ability to back that up with incontrovertible evidence in the same breathe.

Maybe it is because of where I am from or the history that I have observed. Give the benefit of the doubt absent hard, incontrovertible evidence.

All that said? I stand in full agreement that the developers should do their best to develop a system so that blatant cheaters that come into the game with level 999 gear or impossible damage get automatically bounced from the game and banned without the need for further steps. All cheating that is clear cut needs to be dealt with automatically if at all possible and extremely timely otherwise which I personally feel that they do.

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